In Mr. Cook’s letter, he pointed customers unhappy with Apple’s Maps to alternative solutions: “While we’re improving Maps, you can try alternatives by downloading map apps from the App Store like Bing, MapQuest and Waze, or use Google or Nokia maps by going to their websites and creating an icon on your home screen to their web app.”

Most of those solutions and more are now featured in the new “Maps Apps” section of the App Store.

Apps currently featured include:

MotionX GPS Drive

Waze Social GPS & Gas

MapQuest

GPS by TeleNav

Scout by Telenav

Garmin

Gokivo GPS Navigator

NAVIGON

CoPilot Live Premium HD

CoPilot GPS

Bing Maps

Magellan RoadMate

AT&T Navigator

The relatively short amount of time that it took Mr. Cook to address the issue via his open letter, and Apple’s immediate follow-up to feature third party mapping applications in its App Store, indicates that the company is taking customer concerns over the quality of its service seriously.

A class move on Cook’s part. I would have been hard put not to mention Google blocking turn-by-turn and the contract or subscription horizon. Instead he not only doesn’t slam them, he promotes them and then has a new store category created. Apple is gonna scorch.

Wow…. I have to admit, Tim Cook is handling this whole Maps snafu about as well as anyone. I just have to wonder if it will hurt Apple’s own mapping ambitions in the long run, especially if too many iOS users turn to alternatives to Apple’s map app and never come back.

Open the Apple Map app and click on Directions. in the start field enter the name of someone in your address book, the app will give a list of options. Chose one and the starting address fills in. It works the same with the end field.